After the Albanian communist government was formed in the wake of World War II and also after the destruction of the Church of Albania in 1967, Orthodox Albanians living in the diaspora (most of whom were in the US) found themselves without canonical protection. Most American Albanians formed the Albanian Orthodox Archdiocese in America, which now belongs to the OCA as its Albanian Archdiocese.

A small group of Albanian faithful in the US instead preferred to become part of the jurisdiction of Constantinople in the US and thus formed the Albanian Orthodox Diocese of America, which currently consists of two parishes, one in Chicago and the other in South Boston, Massachusetts.